King Juan Carlos

King Juan Carlos of Spain, in the first speech ever by a foreign monarch to both houses of Parliament, said Wednesday that he looked forward to a solution to the long-running Spanish-British dispute over Gibraltar. In a 20-minute address in English to a joint session of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the king said a dialogue already underway "is a step forward" toward solving the problem, which he described as the only source of tension between Britain and Spain. "But there...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish newspapers mourned the end of the country's soccer dynasty after the champions' stunning exit from the World Cup in Brazil though front pages on Thursday were more focused on a new reign - of King Felipe VI. Champions Spain lost 2-0 to Chile on Wednesday, their glory days consigned to history books on the same day that King Juan Carlos signed his abdication papers, handing over to his heir Felipe who will be sworn in...

'Why don't we head for the beach?' -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (left) to King Juan Carlos during a visit to Mallorca, their first encounter since an infamous exchange in which Spain's normally reserved monarch told the voluble Chavez to "shut up" at a summit in Chile last year. ---------- Page compiled from Tribune news services

By Mike Collett RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - One of the greatest dynasties in modern football came to a shattering end when champions Spain lost 2-0 to Chile on Wednesday and crashed out of the World Cup with their glory days consigned to the history books. On the day when Spain's King Juan Carlos signed his abdication papers, the country's footballers were forced off their throne as first-half goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz earned Chile a stunning victory in...

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia reopened the Teatro Real in a gala Saturday, restoring Madrid's legendary opera house after more than 70 years. Hundreds of women in glittering gowns and men in tuxedos joined the royals to see Manuel de Falla's ballet "The Three-Cornered Hat" and his opera "The Short Life." "We now have the mythical Teatro Real back with us," an emotional Camilo Jose Cela, 1989 Nobel Prize for literature winner, said afterward.

Spain's King Juan Carlos said on Monday he would abdicate in favor of his son Prince Felipe, aiming to revive the scandal-hit monarchy at a time of economic hardship and growing discontent with the wider political elite. "A new generation is quite rightly demanding to take the lead role," Juan Carlos, 76, said on television, hours after a surprise announcement from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that the monarch would step down after almost 40 years on the throne. ...

President Hugo Chavez lashed back at Spain's king Sunday for telling him to "shut up" during a summit, suggesting the monarch knew in advance of a 2002 coup that briefly ousted the Venezuelan leader from power. Chavez claimed that Spain's ambassador had backed interim President Pedro Carmona and appeared at Venezuela's presidential palace during the two-day coup in 2002 and demanded to know how deeply King Juan Carlos had been involved. ---------- Items compiled by Tribune...

MADRID (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, who died on Sunday, steered Spain through one of the most turbulent periods in its political history and built bridges between the "two Spains" after fascist dictator General Francisco Franco died in 1975. Suarez, who was 81, was hospitalized on March 17 with a respiratory infection. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for many years. His death was reported by state television. Many Spaniards remember...

Princess Letizia of Spain is pregnant and expecting to give birth in November to a baby that could become the second in line to the Spanish throne, the palace said on Sunday. Letizia, who married Crown Prince Felipe in a lavish ceremony on May 22, 2004, at Madrid's Almudena cathedral, will deliver the baby in Madrid, a palace spokesman said. The baby will be second in line of succession to the throne after 37-year-old Felipe, who is King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's only son and third child.

MADRID (Reuters) - Princess Cristina, the younger daughter of Spain's King Juan Carlos, has been charged with tax fraud and money-laundering, piling further scandal on the once-beloved but increasingly unpopular royal family. Palma de Mallorca Examining Magistrate Jose Castro said in a 200-page ruling after a lengthy investigation that there was evidence that Cristina, 48, had committed crimes. He summoned her to appear in court on March 8, possibly paving...

Former President Jimmy Carter and King Juan Carlos of Spain will share the annual UNESCO award for contribution to peace, Henry Kissinger, jury president and former secretary of state, said Tuesday. Kissinger said Carter was chosen because he had "contributed to the pursuit of peace in many parts of the world." Juan Carlos "has huge merit in avoiding civil war in Spain, in the bringing about of democracy . . . and in maintaining the democratic guarantee in a very complicated situation,"...

By Fiona Ortiz MADRID, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The Spanish king's traditional Christmas Eve address will not be aired on Catalonia's public television on Tuesday for the first time since monarchy was restored, highlighting growing separatist fervour in the wealthy north-eastern region. Workers at the broadcaster have called a half-hour strike for the exact time of the king's speech. The official reason is to protest cost cuts and the outsourcing of some...

King Juan Carlos reportedly will make his first visit to Cuba some time next year, signaling another diplomatic coup for the communist-ruled island and highlighting its warming ties with Spain. The Europa Press report that the king's long-awaited visit will take place during a Ibero-American summit on the island follows Pope John Paul II's first visit earlier this year. After replacing socialist Felipe Gonzalez in 1996, Spain's conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar...

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's king said on Saturday he did not know the gravity of the offences committed by the Spanish pedophile whose royal pardon sparked violent protests, and promised an investigation. "The king has ordered a thorough investigation to find out the responsibilities and failures that led to the regrettable release ... and to impose the necessary punishments," the palace said in a statement released late on Saturday and carried by state news...

Cardinal Vicente Enrique y Tarancon, who played a leading role in Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy as archbishop of Madrid and head of the Council of Bishops, has died at age 87. The cardinal died Monday of lung cancer in a hospital in Valencia. Cardinal Enrique y Tarancon is credited with steering the Spanish Roman Catholic hierarchy, which had supported the dictatorship of Francisco Franco since the civil war of 1936-39, to a more conciliatory attitude toward the...

(Refiles to show Barca game played on Thursday) By Zoran Milosavljevic BELGRADE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Guard Juan Carlos Navarro became the first player to score 3,000 Euroleague basketball points as 2010 champions Barcelona beat fellow Spaniards Caja Laboral Vitoria to stay on course for the playoffs. Holders Olympiakos Piraeus rekindled their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals with a dramatic 78-77 win at quadruple former winners Maccabi Tel...

Kimi Raikkonen led all the way in winning the Spanish Grand Prix, denying Fernando Alonso a fourth straight victory in a race before a home crowd of 115,000 at Barcelona that included King Juan Carlos. Raikkonen, on the pole in his McLaren-Mercedes, won for the third time in his Formula One career. Alonso, in a Renault, was trying to become the first Spaniard to capture his national race since it was first run 54 years ago. "Second place here at home is a like a victory for me,"...

Sir Robert J. Loescher, 70, Professor Emeritus at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and founder and chair of SAIC Art History Department, who was knighted in 1990 by King Juan Carlos of Spain, passed away Dec. 8, 2007. Brother of Thomas Loescher of Tucson and Richard Loescher of Appleton, WI; special friend of Shay DeGrandis, Nathan DeFoor, Brian Sikes and Bibiana Suarez of Chicago, Joyce Neimanas of Albuquerque, Wendy Woon of NYC and many other colleagues and friends.